Help! I'm fat!

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Hey puppies! I'm having quite the time trying to control Dreamy's weight. She's 8 years old now and about 65lbs. I think her ideal weight would be 50-55lbs but I can't seem to get her down there. She's very low activity. Sometimes I get her out for a mile and a half walk but she has a hard time as her hips are starting to bother her with age (I'm sure the fat doesn't help). I give her a glucosamine pill every now and then to help but I'm not sure if it does or not. She's eating two cups a day of taste of the wild high prairie which is the recomended amount for dogs 30-70lbs I believe. Rocky eats almost 2 cups a day (he's almost 9 and is pit bull/jack russel and only about 35lbs) and he's toned up and lost weight. Sparkles is on the puppy formula and eats 3 cups a day (she's toned and healthy for a bulldog at 45lbs). I'm afraid of starving her by cutting back her food or do you think that's what I need to do? Any thoughts or advice would be great! Thanks

I know Huskies tend to eat less food then other breeds, people say whatever the recommended serving on the bag is to give your Husky a little less then that. You definitely dont want to starve her though either. I would normally say just as much exercise as she needs, but if her hips are hurting i'm not sure sure. You may have to take her to the vet to see what he thinks?

You have to give glucosamine every day for about a month before you see results. It takes a while to build up in their system.

Otherwise, yeah, Huskies tend to eat need little food in comparison with other breeds. On the other hand, small dogs actually have higher metabolisms than med/large dogs so it makes sense that your terrier would be eating a lot in comparison. Same with young dogs.

I would try cutting her back. If she seems hungry, add whole, raw veggies as filler (I just grab whatever's on sale in the frozen foods - broccoli, carrots and green beans mostly). Also take careful inventory of how many "extras" she's getting over the day. Fox lost the weight she needed after I started making my SO put all the scraps he was feeding her while he made our dinner off to the side, then when I fed her later I took that amount out of what I had been giving her. They were healthy scraps, it was just too much food!

If you cut back and she still doesn't lose weight, look for an underlying health issue. Thyroid problems are common in Huskies, for example.

Thanks for the advice guys I need to work on making sure she gets her glucosamine every day. I tend to forget. I think I will cut her back on the food for a while and get her out walking every day, just probably not as far. The snow out there is quite daunting though lol (I don't handle the cold well). As for extras and scraps, she gets very few so I don't have to worry much about that. I think at most, she gets two pieces of wagon train duck jerky a day and when she gets her glucosamine, I hide it in a piece of ham. I'm starting everything today so i'll keep you guys informed on how things are going

I keep my guy's supplements stored in their food bowls so I don't forget about them.

If the snow is bothering her hips, try getting some nice winter boots for her. It sounds so silly, but it really does help. Vance's joints would definitely get pulled walking in deep snow and twisted walking on ice. Keeping him out of deep snow and wearing boots helped him keep traction. They have to be nice boots, though... Ruff Wear or something. The cheap boots are just terrible.

Can't help you with the snow, though Bundle up good! Walk in the sun? Haha I dunno...

Lol, the snow comment was for me lol. I'm one of those people who's ALWAYS cold. It doesn't bother Dreamy one but though it actually stopped snowing and what was on the ground melted before I left yesterday but it was still cold lol. She's been feeling really good the past couple days. I guess even just giving her the glucosamine off and on for a while has helped. She didn't seem too sore yesterday evening and today on her walk she insisted on running a bit

I have 4 siberian huskies. 2 @ 7 yrs, brother and sister and her two pups who are now 4 yrs in Jan 2013. Uncle Tundra has always been big but is now almost 35 inches paw to shoulder, whilst his sister, mum of the pups is approx 29kg. Tundra now weighs almost 50kg, not lbs but kgs. His sister also is now overweight following her litter. She has always been tiny but following spay got an infection where her scar and tummy went really lumpy and ulcerated, She's now gained lots of weight.
I previously had a husky for over 20 years, before progressing to 4 of them. My first husky died at the early age of 12 due to multi organ failure from cancer.
My pups are still both within the 20 to 25kg range, despite being 4 years, and to add all 4 of them have been spayed or castrated.

They are exercised between 4 to 5 miles each morning. otherwise sedentry. Fed on Purina Pro Plan Performance as this is great for their coat,. Were recently on two feeds a day, but now reduced to one for the last 2 weeks. My big boy was having 2 feeds a day at 150gms each feed and all the others 2x 100grms a day (dried). Have tried light proplan before, and senior, however this did nothing. Both my older ones appeared to have gained weight, their only treats are winalot shapes and carrots, and on occassion rawhide chews. They are not ill and appear happy, but just extremely fat. I would be very grateful for any advice. Ange